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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMINUTES Parks Advisory Board 2014-10-16 Town of Estes Park, Larimer County, Colorado, October 16th, 2014 Minutes of a Regular meeting of the Parks Advisory Board of the Town of Estes Park, Larimer County, Colorado. Meeting held in the Town Hall Room 100, Engineering Conference Room, in said Town of Estes Park on the 16th day of October, 2014. Present: Dewain Lockwood Merle Moore Ronna Boles Chris Reed Celine Lebeau Terry Rustin Also Present: Greg Muhonen, Public Works Director Kevin McEachern, Public Works Operations Manager Russ Franklin, Parks Division Brian Berg, Parks Division Jen Imber, Public Works Administrative Assistant Bob Holcomb, Town Board Trustee Greg Muhonen called the meeting to order at 12:30 p.m. GENERAL BUSINESS It was moved and seconded (Moore/Lockwood) to approve the September 17 th meeting minutes and the motion passed unanimously. An election was held for Parks Advisory Board Chair and Co-chair. Dewain Lockwood recommended Celine Lebeau for Chair, with Merle Moore also volunteering to serve as Chair. A vote was taken on the Chair position, with four votes in favor of Celine Lebeau and one vote for Merle Moore. A vote was taken to appoint Merle Moore as co-chair and it passed unanimously. Celine will serve as Chair and Merle will serve as Co-chair for a one-year term, per the board bylaws. COMPLIANCE REPORT FOR TREE CITY USA STANDARDS Manager McEachern reported on the current standing of the 2014 Parks Advisory Board budget. As a requirement for Tree City USA, the Town must spend $2 per capita toward planting, care and removal of city trees. At a current population of 5858, Estes Park has spent well over the required amount, with $13,320.66 spent so far in 2014 on trees, tree care and tree maintenance. 511 W. ELKHORN AVENUE IMPROVEMENTS Since the discussion on this topic at the September meeting, the natural area along the Riverwalk on East Elkhorn has been cleaned up by the private property owner without Town’s consent. Trees were removed and native plants and grass were clear-cut before the PAB had opportunity to discuss how to proceed. The PAB still has a choice to recommend a course of action for this area to the Town Board. The Parks Division will have a conversation with private property owner regarding property lines and legality of doing work on Town property. Ronna Boles brought photos exhibiting a need for cleanup of river flood debris on the apartment property across the river. She also suggested a few park benches in the park area would improve usability. Ronna also provided photos of an exposed sewer pipe on the hillside belonging to same developer/private property owner. It could be brought to the property owner’s attention for improvement during the conversation about cleanup of Town property. Chris Reed suggested including street lamps throughout the area to be consistent with the rest of the Riverwalk. Ronna Boles added that increased lighting would improve safety and usability of the area at night. Parks Advisory Board – October 16th, 2014 – Page 2 Staff recommended a master plan be developed for the area if the board chooses to develop. This would require the project be treated like a capital improvement, with a preapproved budget by the Town Board, followed by design and construction of formal pocket park. The board is in favor of developing this park to provide an amenity for the Town as a whole and not an improvement exclusively for one private property owner. It was moved and seconded (Reed/Boles) to formally ask staff to prepare and plan a budget for 2016 to plan and execute an extension of the Riverwalk from Performance Park to Filbey Court, with the motion passing unanimously. POLICY CREATION The board needs to focus on the creation of tree ordinances as well as a public art policy and ordinance. The Town currently has tree ordinances in place that could be expounded upon, so the need for these is not as urgent as the art policy and ordinance. The board feels tackling both projects at the same time would bog down meeting time. The Town tends to have an influx of art in springtime, so having a policy in place by then takes priority. The public art policy will be embodied in a resolution or ordinance prepared by/with the PAB, and could be accompanied by a guidelines document. Once final drafts of these items have been prepared, the PAB will present them to the Town Board as a recommendation. The board discussed a systematic way of approaching this policy development. Merle Moore suggested forming a subcommittee to create a first draft, which could be distributed to the rest of the board for comment. Merle Moore and Terry Rustin volunteered to form the subcommittee to tackle writing individual sections and then present for comment. Director Muhonen recommended breaking out sections for completion during the next three meetings, putting the policy together in February, getting public comment and then taking the policy to the Town Board for recommendation in April 2015. Chair Lebeau pointed out this is same timeline as Arbor Day preparations, and Brian Berg also suggested leaving time for other board duties. Merle Moore asked about the Creative Arts District that has been recently discussed in the newspapers. Brian Berg suggested making contact with that group to be sure efforts are not being duplicated. Bob Holcomb will talk with one of the starting members and ask them to contact Chair Lebeau for discussion. With no other business to discuss, a motion was made (Lockwood/Boles) to adjourn the meeting at 1:42 pm, with all voting in favor.